For most of my career, being a trader meant being chained to your desk during market hours as it was virtually impossible to put on a trade on, actively manage it, or exit unless you were physically at your computer.  

When it comes to trading, just like when developing any skill, you need a lot of practice in order to get good. So why limit yourself to stocks, which are only available to trade for a small part of the day, when futures are open almost around the clock?

Recently, I was invited to speak at a trader's meet-up in Los Angeles. It was a fun event and I met a lot of passionate and intelligent active traders. However, out of all the attendees, only about 10% had ever traded futures.